High Society was a virtual representation of one of Arno Dorian's genetic memories, relived by the Helix Initiate in 2014 through the Helix Navigator.
Description[]
After failing to deliver the urgent message to François de la Serre, Arno returned home.
Dialogue[]
- Arno: Bonsoir (Good evening), Olivier. Has Monsieur (Mister) de la Serre returned?
- Olivier: Seigneur (Lord) de la Serre is not expected until late.
- Arno: Ah well. I suppose I'll just pass the time with Élise then...
- Olivier: Don't get your hopes up just yet. Mademoiselle (The young lady) is at a private soirée. In her honor. At the palace.
- Arno: A party? I wasn't invited.
- Olivier: Neither were the horses.
- Arno: I'm sure she just misplaced my invitation. I'll find my own way in.
Arno walked away, but stopped short on remembering he promised Perrault to deliver a letter. He patted the note where it still was in his vest pocket and spoke to Olivier again.
- Arno: How late is "late"?
- Olivier: Perhaps an hour, perhaps three. Perhaps not at all. I do not question the comings and goings of my betters.
- Arno: I'll just wait here then...
While upstairs, Arno checked the time.
- Arno: Élise never enjoyed these high society balls. She'll be home soon.
Arno entered the study and looked at three books.
- Arno: Les Tragiques. Too depressing. Mémoires de monsieur d'Artagnan (Mémoires de M. d'Artagnan.) Élise's favorite. Traité du monde et de la lumière de Descartes (Descartes' The World). Never could get through that one.
Arno then went to François' office.
- Arno: I could just slip it under the door. He'd see it the instant he returned. I'd best not leave without dropping off this letter.
- Olivier: Hup hup!
Arno sliding the letter under the door
Arno slid the letter under the door to François de la Serre's office.
- Arno: There. Safe and sound, and only slightly delayed. And now... to the palace.
Arno stopped upon seeing a reflection of himself in his scuffed civilian attire in a mirror.
- Arno: Eesh. I couldn't sneak through a sewer in these threads, much less a ball.
A servant passed through the hallway, carrying one of François' suits.
- Arno: Here, here, mon ami (my friend). Let me take care of that.
- Servant: Thank you, young man.
Arno put on the clothes the elderly servant was carrying and went to the party where Élise was.
- Gate guard: Monsieur (Mister) Maximilien Robespierre! No guest!
Arno cut into the line before Charles Gabriel Sivert, who scowled at his impudence.
- Arno: Arno. Le... chevalier... du Thélème (the... Knight... of Thélème)!
- Gate guard: Invitation, s'il vous plait (please).
- Arno: About that, I had one of course, but on the way—
- Gate guard: No invitation, no admittance. Now clear the queue. Next please. Charles Gabriel Sivert! Two guests. Next please!
Arno jumped over the gate into the party.
Two guards noticed his intrusion and escorted him back out to the streets.
- Guard: Off with you!
No invitation, no entrance!
Begone!
Allez-vous-en! (Go away!)
Thought you could sneak in, eh?
- Gate guard: Two guests!
Monsieur (Mister) Chrétien Lafrenière
Monsieur (Mister) Louis-Michel le Peletier, Marquis de Saint-Fargeau!
Capitaine (Captain) Frédéric Rouille!
Please have your invitations ready.
Keep those carriages moving!
Servants may await their masters in the pavilion to the east.
Next, please! - Citizen 1: Quite the turnout.
- Citizen 2: Quite.
- Citizen 3: Let's just put in a short appearance to be polite. I'm tired.
- Citizen 4: As you say.
- Citizen 5: Could this line move any slower?
- Citizen 6: Patience, my dear. We mustn't let the riffraff in, after all.
- Citizen 7: Right this way, Mesdames et Messieurs.
- Citizen 8: Are those golden pantaloons?
- Guard 1: Keep moving please, everyone!
Arno infiltrated the Palais de Versailles to find Élise.
Arno sneaking through the palace
- Guard 2: Third Estate practically up in arms and they're having a party...
- Guard 3: What's this party for, anyway?
- Guard 2: Not sure. Some kind of confirmation ceremony for the de la Serre girl.
Arno snuck past several guards.
- Citizen 6: Madeleine, come back to the party!
- Guard 4: Is it shift change yet?
The guard looked out the window.
- Guard 4: Look at that one. Pretty sure his shoes cost more than my rent.
Arno moved from a balcony to another balcony.
- Citizen 9: She does not!
- Citizen 10: She does! Hand to God, her wig had a birdcage in it! Little doves fluttering around.
As Arno reached the other balcony, the gate guard spotted him.
- Gate guard: You up there! Stop! Get down!
- Arno: Will you let me back in if I do?
- Gate guard: What? Certainly not!
- Arno: Well then if it's all the same to you, I think I'll stay up here.
Arno closed the door to the balcony.
- Gate guard: You, come here!
Moving through the party, Arno overheard several mysterious people conversing.
- Sivert: I'll see you in the garden later, yes?
- Roi des Thunes: Of course.
Templars conversing with each other
- Le Peletier: Quite the turnout this evening.
- Lafrenière: I can't remember the last time we were all together like this.
- Le Peletier: It must have been that business with—
- Lévesque: And I would thank you not to speak of that.
- Le Peletier: Madame.
Arno entered the ballroom and began to dance with a random woman.
- Woman: M'accorderiez-vous cette danse, beau gentilhomme? (Care to dance, handsome?)
Arno saw Élise.
- Arno: Merci. Un autre jour. (Thank you, another time.)
Arno then followed Élise.
- Citizen 10: I thought for sure the plebs would riot this afternoon.
- Citizen 11: You heard the King. New taxes and not a word of concession on the matter of representation.
- Citizen 10: Stuff and nonsense. What the lower classes have always needed is a firm hand to guide them.
- Citizen 12: Quite so. Mark my words, this will all blow over in a fortnight.
- Citizen 13: Jeu de Paume tomorrow?
- Citizen 14: Yes, why not? I doubt anything will be settled by then.
- Citizen 13: My thoughts exactly.
- Citizen 15: And so I said to her, "Marie"—
- Citizen 16: You call her "Marie?"
- Citizen 15: Of course! I've known her since we were girls. We're practically sisters.
- Citizen 16: You and the Queen.
- Citizen 15: That's what I said.
- Citizen 16: The Queen who grew up in Vienna? And goes by "Antonia" among her intimates?
- Citizen 15: Ahh... Excuse me, I do believe I see Monsieur (Mister) Necker there...
- Gate guard: Spread out and find him! I'll not be made mock of by the likes of him!
- Citizen 17: Did you see what she was wearing?
- Citizen 18: What do you expect? She's half savage.
- Citizen 17: I hear she spends her nights gambling in dockside bars, and that's the least of the rumors.
- Citizen 18: Honestly, I pity her father...
Élise began to run.
- Arno: She always did love the chase.
After luring Arno near a door, Élise grabbed him by his arm and brought him into a room.
- Élise: You seem to have caused quite a commotion.
- Arno: What can I say? You were always a bad influence.
- Élise: You were a worse one.
Arno kissing Élise
The two then kissed.
- Élise: Are you wearing one of my father's suits?
- Arno: Are you wearing a dress?
- Élise: Don't even start. I feel like a mummy wrapped up in this thing.
- Arno: Must be quite an occasion to get you so fancy.
- Élise: It's not like that. Truth be told it's a lot of ceremony and pontification. Dull as dirt.
- Arno: Well, when you don't invite me to your parties, everyone suffers.
- Élise: I did try, but my father was adamant.
- Arno: Your father?
Arno and Élise were then interrupted by a guard.
- Guard 5: Who's in there? Ouvrez! (Open up!)
- Élise: Go! I'll distract them.
- Arno: What? You're kicking me out?
- Élise: It's... complicated. I'll explain later, but for now: out the window.
- Arno: Oh no. No, you're not turning this into a repeat of that apple orchard!
- Élise: Stop being such a baby. I am sure there aren't any guard dogs this time. Go!
Élise opened the door to talk to the guard.
- Élise: Oh my! That wasn't the billiard room at all, was it?
- Guard 5: We are pursuing an interloper, madameoiselle (Miss) de la Serre. Have you seen him?
- Élise: No! I shouldn't think they can climb stairs, not with those little hooves! And how did they get out of the royal menagerie?
- Guard 5: Not an antelope, an interloper. A suspicious person. Have you seen anyone like that?
- Élise: Hmmm... Oh! There was Madame de Polignac. Her hair has a bird in it. I think she stole it from the royal menagerie.
- Guard 5: Please move aside so we may check this room, mademoiselle.
- Élise: You'll find only me, I'm afraid. I've been searching for the billiard room for almost an hour.
- Guard 5: We can show you there, mademoiselle. And we'll lock the door to prevent any further misunderstandings. This way, mademoiselle.
- Élise: Oh, merci, monsieur.
- Arno: ...If I had one-tenth her wit.
Arno exited the room, dropped to ground level and continued on through the palace.
- Guard 6: Could have been on party duty, but no...
- Guard 7: Waste of time... There's nobody out here.
- Guard 8: Who's even going to come out here?
- Guard 9: Ten to one I end the night cleaning a rich man's vomit off my shoes.
Arno escaped into the garden.
- Arno: You all right, Monsieur (Mister)? Too much of the king's champagne?
De la Serre fell to the ground, dead.
Arno checking on de la Serre
- Arno: Monsieur? Monsieur (Sir? Mister) de la Serre! Monsieur (Mister) de la Serre!
- Roi des Thunes: Sivert, come away!
Charles Gabriel Sivert came from behind a wall and then framed Arno for the murder.
- Sivert: Guards! Help! Murder!
The palace guards rushed towards the crime scene and one of them knocked Arno out with the butt of his rifle.
- Guard 10: Mon Dieu (My God), he's killed Lord de la Serre!
Outcome[]
On his way out, Arno witnessed François de la Serre's murder, for which he was framed by the real perpetrators and subsequently arrested.
Behind the scenes[]
Élise's complaint that she "feels like a mummy" wrapped up in her dress would be a possibly anachronistic sentiment in 1789. Western fascination with Egypt would come with Egyptomania, which broke out after scholars who were assigned to join Napoleon Bonaparte's failed Egyptian Campaign from 1798–1801 returned and told the public of their findings. [citation needed]
Gallery[]
